This invention relates to storage, viewing and retrieval of documents in a computer system and more particularly to a system and method for abstracting documents upon their initial creation so that they may be reviewed and retrieved by a common protocol without regard to the operating system of the current host computer.
The current state of the art involves a use model for CD""s and DVD""s very similar to those used with respect to a floppy disk. If the user wants to copy, archive, or back up any files to a CD, such functions are accessed through the operating system or host computer, either through a proprietary program, such as Explorer(trademark) or through DOS Commands. If the user wants to view what is stored on a particular medium, the only alternative the user has to view the media using DOS Commands or Windows Explorer, traversing the file trees that are on the CD. Currently a user must use the interface given by the then host operating system to view any storage medium. This is not the most intuitive organizational pattern for most beginning or casual computer users. It is easy for users to get lost in the maze of directories, sub-directories and lists of file names in the hierarchical file system now used by DOS and Windows.
The current state of the art may work on low capacity media such as floppy disks, but the problem of finding information quickly is magnified when using high capacity media such as CD""s or DVD""s.
The current methods for file review are unintuitive and cumbersome. There is not a simple way to determine what is on a particular medium, and the user must go to a fairly low level operating system function to determine this information.
If the medium were to be placed on a computer with an operating system different from the operating system used to create the original file, the user would not be able to view the data, and there is a high likelihood that the user could not even determine what files were on the medium. Even assuming that the user could determine the file names, the user still would be unable to determine what information the files contained.
These and other objects, features and technical advantages are achieved by a system and method which abstracts each file when the file is created so that the user can view the contents graphically at any time without regard to the current operating system. In one embodiment, the abstract is created in a protocol, such as HTML, which can be used with the usual WEB browser. The abstract will also allow for annotations to be added to the script using text and/or recorded voice. These annotations allow the creator of the file to give some explanation of the file""s contents or instructions to help the end user, without requiring the user to either access the data or to examine the file structure using the host computer""s proprietary structure.
This will allow a user with any kind of internet search capabilities to display any files in a common or known way, saving the user from having to resort to low level functions in order to view the files or to traverse the structure that the files are in.
The system generated a wizard like interface with step-wise operation, which for ease of discussion, can be thought of as an HTML script, or utility. Each step of the HTML utility allows the data publisher (file creator) to customize how he or she wants the contents of the medium to be viewed. This is done not only by selecting what files will be physically copied to the medium but by also allowing the publisher to decide which files will be included or omitted from the display of the medium and in what format each file will be presented. This allows the publisher to hide xe2x80x9cunimportantxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9csupportxe2x80x9d files and concentrate on the intended purpose of the medium.
In one embodiment, there are pre-defined organizational layouts such as multimedia and document views. The pre-defined multimedia view will pick out only still graphics, sound and movie file types to display in the HTML script; all other files are considered support files and are omitted from the script. The next step in the process is annotating the view. The publisher, optionally, will be given the ability to record and/or type an annotation, which will be attached to the HTML script. After the annotation has been saved, the system will copy all the selected files and the HTML script to the storage media. The system will also create the autorun files to be used with Windows 95 and NT 4.0, or other operating systems, to allow the medium to automatically launch the user""s WWW browser when the medium is inserted into the computer.
The HTML script is organized into a front page where the annotations are viewed and a hot link to the actual xe2x80x9cviewxe2x80x9d. Depending on which organizational view the publisher selected each file type will be organized in its own HTML script file. Each file in the view will be represented with a small (approx. 100xc3x97100 pixel) graphical thumbnail which will also serve as a hot link to the actual file.
When the medium is inserted into the drive on a system that supports autorun, the autorun will launch the default WWW browser with the HTML script on the media. The front page will appear which contains any textual annotations, and any audio annotation will automatically play. From the front page a hot link will take the user to the contents of the medium based on how the publisher chose to organize the data. Within the content view of the media the user will see xe2x80x9cthumbnailxe2x80x9d content previews of each file.
The foregoing has outlined rather broadly the features and technical advantages of the present invention in order that the detailed description of the invention that follows may be better understood. Additional features and advantages of the invention will be described hereinafter which form the subject of the claims of the invention. It should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the conception and the specific embodiment disclosed may be readily utilized as a basis for modifying or designing other structures for carrying out the same purposes of the present invention. It should also be realized by those skilled in the art that such equivalent constructions do not depart from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.